The Taoiseach Enda Kenny has just announced a number of new junior ministers in the Dáil.
Fifteen ministers have been announced this evening, bringing the overall total to 18.
Fine Gael deputy Eoghan Murphy has been appointed a junior minister in the Department of Finance.
His party compatriot Helen McEntee has been promoted to a Minister of State at the Department of Health.
The Taoiseach said: “These appointments are in addition to the three Ministers of State who were appointed when the Government was formed – Regina Doherty, Finian McGrath and Paul Kehoe.
“In making these appointments today, the Government has decided to expand the number of Ministers of State by three, compared with the situation that pertained in the last government.
“In doing so, the Government will, in line with our Programme for Government commitments, be putting a stronger emphasis on important policy areas, particularly on the Department of health, to which four Ministers of State will be attached to work to deliver real improvements in this vital public service.
“I am confident that all those appointed today will work hard, with the members of the Government, to ensure that the intensified engagement between the Government and the Oireachtas and its committees, which will be provided for in the new Dáil reform process, is effective in the interests of all the people who we are elected to serve.”
Ministers of State of the 32nd Dáil: pic.twitter.com/FUxXKPOXcE
— MerrionStreet.ie (@merrionstreet) May 19, 2016
The winning constituencies are Clare, Dublin South Central, Offaly, Wicklow, Galway West, Dublin Bay South, Meath East, Limerick County and Cork East.
Independent TD John Halligan of Waterford and newly elected Independent for Galway East Seán Canney also got call-ups.
The four outgoing Fine Gael junior Ministers – representing Mayo, Donegal, Cork North Central and Meath West – were also appointed.
And with the Chief Whip and two super juniors already appointed on Cabinet day Wexford, Dublin Bay North and Meath East were already represented.
However, large parts of the country have no ministerial representation at all. Five-seaters like Dublin Fingal, Carlow Kilkenny, Louth, Kerry and Tipperary have been left without Ministers, alongside constituencies like both Kildare North and South, Sligo Leitrim, Longford Westmeath, and Dublin North West.
In total Fine Gael now has 27 Ministers and 23 backbenchers.
The biggest Ministerial representation is now in the Department of Health where Simon Harris has been joined by a total of four juniors.
Here is the full list of the new government ministers:
Fine Gael’s Dara Murphy – Minister for EU Affairs, Data Protection and the EU Single Market
Independent TD John Halligan – Minister of State for Training and Skills.
Fine Gael’s Joe McHugh – Minister of State for the Diaspora and Overseas Development Aid.
Fine Gael’s Seán Kyne – Minister of State for Gaeltacht Affairs.
Fine Gael’s Damien English – Minister of State for Housing and Urban Renewal.
Fine Gael’s Andrew Doyle – Minister of State at the Department of Agriculture.
Fine Gael’s Eoghan Murphy – Minister of State at the Department of Finance.
Fine Gael’s Patrick O’Donovan – Minister of State for Tourism & Sport.
Fine Gael’s Paul Kehoe – Minister of State for Defence.
Fine Gael’s Regina Doherty – Government Chief Whip.
Independent TD Finian McGrath – Minister of State for Disability.
Fine Gael’s Pat Breen – Minister of State for Employment and Small Business.
Fine Gael’s Helen McEntee – Minister of State for Mental Health and Older People.
Fine Gael’s Marcella Corcoran Kennedy – Minister of State for Health Promotion.
Independent TD Sean Canney – Minister of State for the OPW and Flood Relief.
Fine Gael’s Catherine Byrne – Minister of State for Communities and the National Drug Strategy.
Fine Gael’s David Stanton – Minister of State for Equality, Immigration and Integration.
Fine Gael’s Michael Ring – Regional Economic Development.
